


Chemistry

by gabriellemartin327



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Eventual Romance, F/F, Slow Burn, also might change the fic name? idk yet, gonna add more relationships n warnings n tags but don't wanna spoil yanno
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2018-11-20 02:47:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11327082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gabriellemartin327/pseuds/gabriellemartin327
Summary: Peridot has just moved from across the country to a new place, with all new people, and is about to go on a journey of understanding herself and others thanks to these new friends. As her friends help her to understand herself, love and freedom, she helps them with love and their own pain. The cheesiest, sappiest, high school au I can write simply for my own self indulgence. Hope you enjoy long slow burn! Think steven universe but skins??





	1. A Long First Day

**Author's Note:**

> hope u like long slow burn lapidot, i got ideaaasss

            Why? Why was this cruddy school with its cruddy hallways so huge? A height disadvantage already made seeing the classroom numbers hard, but four floors? That was absolutely not necessary. Each turn she took she thought she was closer to the guidance office, but each time she was wrong. On top of all that, each hallway was a different color, which you’d assume would help with navigating in this maze of a ‘school’, but no, it only added to the bottling frustration that was on the verge of causing Peridot to explode all over the walls. Headlines read: Transfer Student Implodes on First Day! Ugh. She eyed her map again, seeking the guidance office. Okay, it definitely was the third floor, and she was sure she was on said floor considering she’d been to every at least twice now. The room was B311. B…blue? Aha! Peridot quickly backpedaled to the last hallway she was in and peered up at the signs sticking out over the doors. Even with her glasses she could barely see. Thank you, oh blessed genetics, being nearly blind was the greatest of gifts! Finally, she spotted the room and scurried over.

            The inside of the guidance office was bland compared to the halls. Cream walls and tan furniture, stacks of tabloid magazines and self-help pamphlets on the wall above, a coffee station and some green accent sofas. The air smelled like pumpkin spice unfortunately, it was nearly the time for the trend to take its reign as ruler of all fall food, drink, and body sprays. Peridot wasn’t a fan, not for any particular reason other than it was so overplayed that the very hint of the smell caused her gag reflex to kick in. Fortunately for now she was holding herself together. A small, tanned woman sat behind a desk typing away in an archaic monster of a monitor. She was smaller than the top of her desk, a white bun barely popping out above eye level. Peridot shivered at such old tech still being used, but walked over.

            “Uhm, excuse me. I’m here to meet with my advisor about my schedule?” She phrased it like a question for whatever reason. Talking wasn’t her strong suit.

            “Peridot Diamond, I assume? We don’t get many transfers into their junior year, hm let’s see, your advisor is Mr. Smiley so the third door on the right through the hall.” She directed Peridot with a point and spun back around to her monitor screen.

            Mr. Smiley? Great. Probably an overenthusiastic “I’m here to help you pursue your dreams!” kind of guy. Well, parental agendas get in the way of “dreams.” Peridot was to be a doctor, no objections. At least she has above average intelligence and a moderate interest in biology. And by moderate, that meant she could almost stay awake through one class. Almost.

            She approached the door, a giant smiley face sticker on glass indicating that yes, this was the place, and entered. A large man sat at his desk, head gleaming like it had been shined, his face accompanied by a thick mustache. He wore a v-cut blue button up adorned with shapes and his office was covered in toys and stuffed animals. Peridot was so overwhelmed by the colors and mess she could feel her heart beating slightly faster. Great.

            “Well, hello there!” Mr. Smiley practically yelled. “You must be Peridot! Welcome to Beach City Community High School! So, let’s print out your schedule, get your locker, and I’ll answer whatever questions you have!”

            Peridot just sat and stared. So loud. So…happy. Well, at least he was doing what she needed him to. She occupied herself with looking around at the room. A box in the corner was overflowing with items, labeled the “prize chest.” She huffed, high school students being rewarded with toys, how idiotic.

            But.

            There was…one item in particular that…might be interesting to receive.

            She’d look into how to earn that.

            “Well, looks like you’ll need your next level chemistry, AP biology, you could take astrophysics, ecology, or anatomy and physiology for another basic science course. Then you’re behind on required art courses so I’d suggest taking two to fulfill that. Then you need one language course, which we offer plenty of options for, and your physical education class. So, any ideas how you want this to look?” Mr. Smiley asked as he slid over a course catalog.

            Peridot eyed each option. Well, she despised chemistry, but it was necessary, might as well keep it as her first class and get it out of the way early. She had taken a course similar to anatomy at her last school. She looked over her other class requirements. She wasn’t particularly…skilled…in the arts. Intro to music sounded like an easy enough class. That and art appreciation. Simple. P.E and AP biology had to be there, then a lunch period.

            She slid the catalog forward, finger firmly pointed on a course number.

            “Intro to Japanese huh? Interesting choice!” Mr. Smiley quickly typed the course ID number into the system. “Okay, now what about other courses?”

            “For art requirements I’d like to choose intro to music and art appreciation. For science, I’ll choose ecology. And if possible, I’d like to have chemistry as my first class.”

            Mr. Smiley added everything into the system, printed out a course sheet and bid Peridot a good first day.

            Now it starts.

            The hell of high school alone is enough, but transferring in junior year across the country, well that was a whole new level. She’d have to make all new friends. Not that Peridot had made many friends at her last school, but that was beside the point. There was this overwhelming sense of how different she was in this school and it hadn’t even begun. She felt uncomfortable with how new and strange this whole experience was. Her whole life she had lived in one place, never leaving, never even vacationing outside it. Now here she was, on the opposite coast from where she grew up, feeling smaller than she usually does, and that’s hard because she is barely 5’2.

            She glanced at the gold and diamond watch on her wrist, a present from her mother so Peridot could look ‘dignified’ according to her, it read 7:38. She had gotten to school an hour early just in case she had gotten lost (which she did) or the meeting took a long time. Still, when she exited the guidance office she was baffled by how many people were roaming the halls. Her last school was a private academy, only for elites as her mother would say, so there weren’t many enrolled. Here, she felt like she was drowning in a sea of bodies, barely able to breathe as her eye level was that of most people’s elbows or shoulders.

            She elected to find her locker later seeing as she didn’t even have textbooks yet. Somehow, thank the stars, Peridot found her way to her first class and chose a seat near the middle-front. People started piling in, obvious friend cliques, and Peridot sunk into her chair trying to fade into the scene and become invisible. Headphones. She should have remembered them; they are the only defense in the face of absolute awkwardness.

            As the final minute bell rang, a surge of latecomers entered and took whatever available seats remained. Unfortunately for Peridot this meant the open seat next to her was ripe for the picking. A lanky girl with blue hair walked in and Peridot prayed she wouldn’t be the one to sit next to her. An obvious delinquent. Dyed hair, black ripped jeans, a black tank and an oversized red and black flannel tied around her slim waist- she looked like she just walked out of an Urban Outfitters look book. _She’d be the type to cheat off my tests and homework._ As Peridot’s luck would have it the delinquent sat down next to her. She dropped her bag on the ground lazily and dropped her head onto the table they now shared. Peridot just scooted her open notebook and pencil further away. She side eyed her new tablemate. She had an assortment of piercings on her small ears. A yin yang, a star, a couple hoops and an industrial bar on the side Peridot could see. She wondered if those hurt. They certainly looked like they had. But they also looked so impressive. Peridot had only been permitted to get her ears single pierced, her mother said anything beyond would make her less attractive. Peridot now found this wasn’t the case.

            The blue girl shifted under Peridot’s gaze and glanced up at Peridot. Quickly, Peridot glanced up to the front of the room where the teacher had just entered to avoid making eye contact with her.

            “Hello class, my name is Ms. Erudite, but I’d prefer you to call me by my first name for a more personable learning experience so Ms. Opal or Opal will do, and I’m your instructor for chemistry. As its syllabus week, we won’t really be diving into new material so much as reviewing, but I do encourage you to make friends in this class in order to pass.” The tall woman continued on with formalities and passing out syllabus papers before beginning a lecture on ionic versus covalent bonding.

            The whole period felt longer than just an hour and Peridot’s eyes burned as she fought to stay awake. Her tablemate, however, did not attempt. She merely stretched out into a comfortable position and drifted off to sleep. Peridot found her eyes roaming over her features, just to see who she’d be sitting next to for the remainder of the year, of course.

            She had thick dark brows (though they were shaped perfectly), and slightly tanned skin, but that was natural by birth not artificial it seemed. She was fast asleep but she looked sort of, pained? Well, it was chemistry so that was understandable. Her cheeks and nose were covered in specks of brown that complimented her skin tone nicely. Admittedly, she was a very attractive girl. Probably popular, unlike Peridot.

            The bell rang and cut Ms. Opal’s lecture short and the blue haired girl sprung to life and was out the door before Peridot had her notebook put away, red flannel fluttering behind her. At least she wasn’t one for awkward conversation.

            The day passed by uneventfully, just basic syllabi and ice breakers for the most part. Every now and then Peridot felt a stare on the back of her neck, obviously the tightly knit community could spot an outsider in their midst and she felt the curious gazes. After chemistry Peridot raced to her next class, practically bursting with anticipation. It was intro to Japanese. She happened to love anime, watching well over two hundred series and counting according to her Aozora phone app, which was a life saver in terms of organizing and being up to date with releases. It just so happened that she could knock out her foreign language and humanities requirements with this class, an optimal choice. It wasn’t at all due to her being, well, kind of a weeaboo, not at all. Nothing happened all class other than going over how the class would gradually be transitioning to Japanese rather than English speaking over the course of the year and explaining how tests would work. Still, Peridot was oozing with excitement. She was overjoyed to learn something that actually interested her for a change.

            After Japanese Peridot had ecology, the top floor of the school. She noted most sciences and math were on the top floor, followed by English, languages and history on the third, the second being mostly music rooms, art studios and pottery rooms, and the first floor having the huge stadium style gym, an indoor and outdoor cafeteria and courtyard, and a pool area that looked like an Olympic arena. There was also a separate wing to attach the giant auditorium (though Peridot hadn’t seen it herself, judging by the map it was bigger than the gym), and the annexes outside that served as club room areas. The school was one of the best funded in the area and known for the ability to allow students to excel in their studies and individuality, however, their club programs and sports brought out a sense of community that Peridot could only dream about as she read her pamphlets about the school. The girls’ soccer team and swim team were nationally ranking, boys’ baseball was nationally ranking and within the top three, the robotics club had won the last two state competitions they’d been to, the dance team was on the rise to win state, there was a boxing club, the music club was so popular they have fundraiser concerts within the town and talent scouts search out for stars within the group- this place had it all and more! Peridot felt like maybe she could achieve something in her life and be happy for once, rather than exist to please her mother’s impossible standards. Maybe.

            Third hour ecology meant this was homeroom, whenever school announcements would happen, disasters or drills, or assemblies would be held, they’d report to this room and with this teacher. As the bell rang, an enormously tall woman waltzed into the room. Her hair was huge and hung down in heavy curls and a soft shade of pink, something Peridot had never seen from an educator, and she was in an all-white pant suit. Her rosy complexion complimented her hair, or maybe it was her hair that complimented her complexion, exquisitely. She had soft features and massive dark eyes, eyes that conveyed a lot of emotion and happiness behind them. Peridot thought she was stunning.

            “Welcome to ecology,” She spoke in her melodious, angelic voice “in this class we’ll learn all about life on this planet, and how it all connects, and how vast and wonderful our planet is.” She was so caught up in ecology the woman nearly had stars in her eyes. “I’m Mrs. Quartz-Universe, and I’m so happy to get to spend the year getting to know each and every one of you. For those of you who might recognize my name, yes my husband is Mr. Universe who teaches most music courses here and is the music club head, so any friend of his is a friend of mine. I’ll also be open to sharing any embarrassing stories about him if you’d like to know, he’s adorable.” Half the class giggled, half the class sighed romantically. Peridot looked around, just observing as she usually did. Oddly enough there was one girl near the middle front, relatively in front of Mrs. Quartz-Universe’s desk that had a huge scowl on her face. She wondered what happened to make her hate ecology so much.

            As Mrs. Quartz-Universe passed syllabus papers down the aisles of students she asked everyone their name and one interesting fact about themselves so the whole class could hear. Crap. Peridot liked going under the radar, off the radar, completely not on any radars at all at any time! Now the spotlight was coming, and was a mere seven desks away as kids continued answering. She was wracking her brain, _name? Peridot._ Okay, that’s one answer down. _Interest? Anime, gaming, observing others from a safe distance._ No. _She built her computer and speakers?_ No, still nerdy. _Extreme anxiety?_ Nope. Four desk now. Peridot gulped, wondering if anyone else could see the meltdown occurring within her from outside like she feared they could.

            “And what about you, who are you sir?” Mrs. Quartz-Universe asked with a soft smile whilst handing the blonde boy a syllabus sheet.

            “You can call me Sour Cream, and uhm, like, my favorite thing to do is DJ, I guess.” He moved his hands around in a dance as he said the word ‘DJ’ and Mrs. Quartz-Universe smiled brightly.

            “My, how creative, you must show me sometime! I’m sure my husband would love to have someone like you in his classes.”

            “Yeah, I was thinking of joining the music club this year so maybe I’ll get to know him.” Sour Cream held the back of his neck and smiled slightly.

            “I’m sure he’d love to hear your music, Sour Cream.”

            With that she walked to the next desk to a boy who either had very tinted glasses or, more likely, sunglasses in the classroom. He wore skinny jeans and an oversized red flannel with a lightning bolt undershirt. His shoes were bright aqua and green custom Nikes and his hair was gelled stylishly. Peridot noted he was probably popular.

            “Nice to see you again, Mrs. Quartz-Universe.” He said smoothly, though showed nearly no facial expression.

            “And you, Buck.” She smiled at him dearly. They must’ve known each other prior to this class. Small city. “Now, why don’t you tell everyone something about you.”

            Buck was quiet for a minute before shrugging and speaking up slightly, “I’m the principal’s son, but that isn’t really interesting. I have my own graphic design company, that is pretty cool.”

            A wave of ‘ooos’ and ‘wows’ came from the class as Buck smirked and gave knucks to Sour Cream sitting in front of him. Mrs. Quartz-Universe moved onto the girl behind them who was name Jenny and was a twin and who worked at a family restaurant in town, which she added for everyone to come and tip her when she’s their waitress.

            Now it was Peridot’s turn. She still wasn’t prepared. She wasn’t a DJ, she didn’t have a company she created, and she wasn’t even a twin! How unimpressive! She felt sweat collecting above her brow as Mrs. Quartz-Universe turned to her.

            “And who might you be?” She asked sweetly.

            “I-I’m Peridot Diamond!” She squeaked. She mentally cursed herself for stuttering, her mother would’ve been so disappointed. She can practically hear her mother’s voice: _First impressions are everything, Peridot._

            “Nice to meet you Peridot. And what about you, what interesting fact can you share with us?” She inquired lightly.

            “Uhm,” Peridot paused. Interesting fact? I can tell you the world’s most regenerative living species? The best processor for building a monitor? The amount of jumping jacks you’d need to do to burn off a whole bag of doritos? “Well, I have never moved before in my life, so this is my first new start ever since the place I was born, on the other side of the country. Is that interesting?” She shrunk into herself.

            “My! Now that’s very interesting! So this is a whole new experience for you! Well, I’m certain you’ll like Beach City, there really is nothing like it in the world. And, if you ever need anything, do not hesitate to come to me, I’d be glad to help you find your path around here, Peridot.” Mrs. Quartz-Universe smiled genuinely at Peridot and she felt much larger than she had a second ago, and a little bit of her anxiety about living in a completely new place seemed less terrifying, even if only slightly.

            The rest of the hour was spent knowing the classmates, Mrs. Quartz-Universe talking about the clubs and teams she sponsored, which were the dance team and pride club. Her last school didn’t have a dance team, let alone a pride club. Now that she thought of it, she didn’t think there was a single gay person there, so the fact there was an entire organization at this school dedicated to it was amazing. Peridot had never met a gay person in her life, she was curious.

            When the bell rung and everyone got up to leave, Mrs. Quartz-Universe called out to Peridot, so she stayed back and shuffled over to her desk nervously. “Y-yes?” _Stuttering! Peridot!_

            “Peridot, when is your lunch period?” She asked with a smirk.

            “Uh, well next hour I have intro to music,” Her teacher’s eyes lit up at the mention of the class, “And after that is my lunch period. Why do you ask?” Peridot felt uneasy.

            “Good! Everything worked out! You see, a friend of mine, the captain of the dance team, has lunch then too, so now you can have someone to sit with!” She smiled as she turned to a tall girl packing up her bags.

            Before Peridot could stop her from calling out, Mrs. Quartz-Universe was already waving the girl over.

            “Pearl, this is Peridot, Peridot, meet Pearl. Peridot has lunch at the same time as you, and seeing as she knows no one here, I’d like to ask if you can help her out and allow her into your friend group?” Mrs. Quartz-Universe looked like a huge puppy with her starry eyes and begging face. Peridot felt so bad for imposing on Pearl, but she secretly hoped Pearl would agree. She hadn’t even thought about how awful it would be to sit alone in a school this large.

            Peridot looked up at Pearl, and by look up she really had to, this girl had to be 5’9 at least. Peridot was shrinking over her gaze, Pearl really didn’t look interested at all, but one look at Mrs. Quartz-Universe and she sighed.

            “Well, alright.” She agreed in her perfectly harmonious voice. Her face lost tension and she extended her hand down to Peridot, who shook it with vigor. “I have to get to the gym and change for class, but you can meet me right outside the gym, next to the giant mascot statue? Then we can walk in together so you don’t get lost trying to find us in the crowd.”

            Peridot was so thankful for Mrs. Quartz-Universe, she may have just saved her from social devastation, if Peridot didn’t mess things up that is.

            “Yeah! I’ll be sure to be there!” Peridot exclaimed as she pumped her tiny fists.

            Pearl smiled and bid them both goodbye and Peridot followed her after shyly thanking her teacher and heading out to her next class. She had to head all the way down to the second floor and she only had a few minutes, so she willed her short legs to stretch their stride and pumped as fast as she could so she wouldn’t be too late and lose her middle seat preference.

            Unfortunately, for someone who was barely 5’2, there wasn’t much leg to work with, and the one minute bell rang while Peridot rounded the corner to the hall. She’d be walking in right before class started, so she probably lost her seating choice, so she’d be walking into a full room of kids talking amicably, and there would probably only be one or two seats near the very front or back, and oh god- Peridot can’t see from the back! But the anxiety of being in front and being stared at by all the looming eyes behind and the teacher’s eyes in the front, that was as equally terrifying.

            Peridot crossed the threshold of the classroom door and tried to silence the screeching voice in her head causing her palms to sweat and her shoulders to shake. She looked out to the room, full of mostly bored slackers dozing off, a couple of people from her previous class she recognized, and one person she recognized for sure- the blue haired hooligan sat near the window in the middle next to a short blonde girl. Peridot’s eyes quickly roamed to the very opposite of the room, wanting to be nowhere near her chemistry tablemate seeing as she’d already have enough proximity with her daily. There was an open seat on the outside, still the inner seat of the shared two seat table, that Peridot chose. It was a little farther back, she feared straining her eyes everyday might give her a headache, but she took it anyways. The only other open seat was the far right front, two seats in front of the blue girl.

            Peridot sat down, putting her black-and-alien-print book bag on the floor and pulling out a matching notebook. She had a thing for green, stereotypical, extraterrestrial aesthetics.

            “Hey cool bag!” The rasp and volume of the voice startled Peridot and she shook slightly before she gathered her bearings and turned to her new tablemate.

            “Wow…thanks.” Peridot’s ears were still adjusting as she scanned her grinning tablemate. The girl was a busty Latina, with a low-cut purple tank top exposing her tanned flesh, and, for whatever reason, Peridot’s eyes locked onto a particular patch of exposed skin that made her heart thump. She jerked her head back up and observed the girl more. She had hip length platinum hair, so white it was even tinged purple a tad, and her eyes were golden brown and huge. Her lips were plump and covered in gloss that made them look glazed. She had a beauty mark right next to her left eye and her right was mostly covered by her shaggy bangs. She was very pretty.

            “No prob Bob! Hey, looks like you’re my neighbor! My name is Amethyst, what about you?” She extended her hand casually, grinning slightly as her head rested on her other hand observing Peridot.

            “I’m Peridot, it’s nice to meet you.” Peridot stated as she shook Amethyst’s hand slowly.

            “I haven’t ever seen you around before, are you like taking junior classes as a sophomore or something, tiny?” Amethyst asked with a slight tease in her voice, and Peridot caught it.

            “Hey! You clod! You’re short too, your legs don’t even reach the floor on that stool!” Peridot grumbled as she crossed her arms and turned away.

            Amethyst burst out laughing, voice cracking with her rasp, and turned back to Peridot. “Peri, man, we are gonna get along!” She slapped Peridot on the back lightly and Peridot was both disturbed at Amethyst’s open nature and happy that she had done something right, apparently. Maybe she’d make friends at this school.

            Amethyst quieted down her laughter as a man entered the room. He was relatively average height, with hair longer (and wilder) than Amethyst that went down to his hamstrings and impressed nearly everyone in the room, that is, if you didn’t look at the glowing bald crown he sported. He had a full beard and a bright red sunburn that made him gleam against his whiteboard he stood in front of. He wore a green turtle neck with a tan blazer and jeans despite the weather, which was incredibly hot. With an expo marker, he wrote his name on the board. ‘MR. UNIVERSE’, it read, in barely legible all caps handwriting. Oh. Mrs. Quartz-Universe’s husband.

            What an unexpected couple.

            “Hiya! I’m Mr. Universe! You can call me that, or Greg, whatever makes you more comfortable! So, looks like I get to be the one to lead you all on the wonderful journey of music! We’ll be learning bits of instruments, sheet music, singing, and listening to the best of the best. Now, we do need to quickly cover fundamentals, but after that I like to take on my own curriculum, kind of discover as you go, learn and pursue your interests and I’ll facilitate them kind of thing!” hands went up and Mr. Universe laughed and raised his hand calmly. “Now yes, it’s been approved by the principal and the school board, and it isn’t ‘are you good at music you get an A,’ no. It’s about showing me you’ve come farther since taking this class in whatever way you decide. And I can always help you brainstorm, if you’ve got stage fright we can do anything one on one, there’s no need to stress! The final is a long way off and we are here to have fun!”

            There was a mix of excitement and curiosity reflecting off the faces of those in the class, but Peridot felt straight fear. This was the exact thing she dreaded when she signed up for the class, seeing as she had never been musically inclined in her whole life, let alone confident enough to ever do something of the sort in front of others. She wanted a class that memorized the year Mozart was born and when he died, when Beethoven released his greatest work, when genres started and ended. That sort of fact memorizing curriculum was best for Peridot. Musically talented? Peridot was nervous.

            Greg started passing out syllabus papers through the rows and turned to get a box in the back room attached to the class. He returned and dropped it on the table that sat in front of him.

            “So, just to get a feel for what this class is going to be like, and have a little fun ‘cause that’s the most important thing, everyone come on up and grab an instrument!”

            Most of the class exploded up and out of their seats as soon as he said it, despite being roughly all 16 or 17 years old, playing with instruments in class hadn’t lost its charm since middle school apparently. Amethyst slowly pushed herself up and Peridot followed her closely. Ha. Peridot was slightly taller than her. Maybe it was her untamed hair pulled half-up-half-down, but it counted nonetheless!

            Peridot looked around at the kids filing back into their seats and what instruments they’d chose, maybe that would give her an idea of who was skilled and who wasn’t. One kid had bongos, another some sort of, finger clappers? He was pretending they were an animal of sorts, like a crocodile, and attacking his tablemate joyfully. A bunch of kids had kazoos, which Peridot cringed at the number of germs on them until she a girl throwing away the bag all the newly purchased kazoos had come from. There was an ambitious young man who grabbed a banjo and sat next to a cocky looking boy who had only grabbed a stick and wooded cup with carvings in it. The blue haired girl just sat down with a tambourine in her hand and stared out the window with a bored, lifeless expression.

            Amethyst grabbed Peridot’s shoulders and steered her towards the table they shared, not even letting Peridot grab an instrument. In an attempt to fight her she made squeals of protest but Amethyst sat her down and held up two choices.

            “Maracas or the triangle?” She asked plainly.

            “Oh.” Peridot mused over her options. “Triangle.” Peridot accepted the triangle and was happy Amethyst had picked out the simplest instrument she could think of.

            “Good because I was gonna take the maracas anyways.” Amethyst laughed.

            Greg asked anyone for song choices as he grabbed his acoustic guitar and hands shot up all around the room. He obliged everyone he could if he knew the song and they spent the rest of the hour harmonizing, rather horribly, laughing and belting out song lyrics for those that knew them. Some kids even went as far as to stand and dance around the room a bit or give themselves a solo during a lull in the songs. Greg was amazing at guitar, he played every song to perfection and even added his own little parts every now and then. He made the whole class feel alive, even awkward, off-beat Peridot, who didn’t sing or dance at all, but swayed slightly and enjoyed the atmosphere. After a few songs, Amethyst had gotten into her own little world and was dancing with her maracas next to Peridot, which made Peridot giggle to herself, not that she was a bad dancer, just that she was blatantly having a great time and so unafraid to have fun. She hoped she could make friends with her. Real friends. Not just class friends. She seemed so free and confident. Something Peridot had never known.

            There were just a few minutes left of class and Peridot was searching the room for a clock, since she didn’t know the school’s policy on phones yet. Her last school had a strict no phone rule, if they catch you it was their phone for the day and you could only get it after detention. Not that Peridot had anyone to text, but music and phone games were important too.

            Her eyes roamed the room but fell only onto the blue haired girl from chemistry. She was still staring out the window, as uninterested as humanly possible, but her right hand held the tambourine under the table and it shook ever so slightly to the beat. Peridot wondered why she was so, angry? Maybe not angry. The girl just looked lifeless. And gloomy. And for whatever reason, that made Peridot feel kind of, sad? Something like that. She didn’t really care about what happened to the girl, but why did she have to look miserable every time she caught a glimpse of her?

            “Okay! Okay!” Greg laughed. “There is three minutes, so everyone, gently, please gently, put back the instruments you borrowed! Oh! Kazoos though, you can keep those, no one wants to share your spit!” The class laughed in unison. “So, you see, this year will be a blast if you let it, I promise to help you have fun and find a way you can be interested in music! Once you put the instruments back go ahead and go to your next class don’t worry about the bell and I’ll see you tomorrow!”

            Everyone scurried out of their seats and to the box at once. Peridot packed up her bag first while Amethyst had offered to go return the instruments. She figured she’d wait for her, she didn’t know why, maybe they could walk around for a bit or something with these extra few minutes of passing period.

            Amethyst quickly grabbed her bag, threw the syllabus in her bag in a crumbled mess without worrying about using a folder, and strolled out motioning for Peridot to follow her.

            “Later Greg!” She called out as she waved to the man cleaning his classroom.

            “See you Amethyst! Are you gonna be over anytime soon?” He called back while heaving up his equipment.

            “Dunno when, but you know me, I practically live there!” She laughed and so did he in return before Peridot and her rounded the corner and out of the class.

            “So, uh, you know our teacher?” Peridot asked, both intrigued about the fact and trying to make idle conversation.

            “Yeah, he’s kinda like, my weird uncle pretty much. I grew up around him. But like, everyone knows everyone around here anyways so it’s not weird I guess.” Amethyst shrugged, throwing her hands behind her head and walking at an extremely relaxed pace.

            “Yeah, I can tell. Everyone already has friend groups and stuff.” Peridot sighed as she gripped her alien print bag. Not that she didn’t expect not to have friends, just that, there might’ve been a sliver of hope when the move was mentioned. Optimism and all that. Then anxiety and realism set in and she realized nothing would be different about her social life just because she relocated.

            “And since everyone knows each other around here, I can tell you’re a newbie. So, where are you from, Oceantown or something?” She asked as she leaned against a wall of lockers eying Peridot.

            “Uh, Maine actually. My mother opened a new branch of her company in Empire City so she chose to settle here since low crime and this area is known for its academics, plus there is the university in town so I could probably get a scholarship. At least that’s what she said.” Peridot rambled.

            “No way! Maine? That’s so cool, you’re from the opposite end of the country! Well, welcome to Beach City, California, where its’ always hot and always fun!” She laughed. “Yo, what’s your next hour?”

            “I’ve got lunch.” Amethyst brightened as soon as Peridot replied and she slapped Peridot’s shoulder.

            “Me too dude! Let’s sit together, then you can hang with my friends!” She cheered.

            Peridot was initially so relieved, Amethyst was so inviting and friendly, and she was overjoyed that the girl had even offered, but then she remembered Pearl.

            “I’d love to, but, a teacher already arranged for me to sit with someone, a gesture of kindness for the new kid, I guess.” Peridot shrugged apologetically.

            “Aw, lame! Who is it? You don’t want to be stuck with be stuck with a nerd!” Amethyst pouted.

            “Her name is Pearl, and I don’t really think she wants to, she just felt bad.”

            “Oh my god. You got stuck with the nerdiest of nerds!” Amethyst started laughing extraordinarily hard to the point she leaned on Peridot’s shoulder her with hand and Peridot paled. The tall girl hadn’t seemed like a bad choice, if anything she was strikingly beautiful and rather intimidating.

            “You know what? I’ll come with you to sit with Pearl.” Amethyst proposed as she wiped tears from her eyes. “This is all too funny.”

            “I really don’t see what is funny but, okay.” Peridot agreed. “She said to meet her at the mascot statue, said that I can’t miss it.”

            “Come on, I’ll show ya.” Amethyst pushed Peridot’s shoulders the direction of the staircase and down. They talked about Peridot’s old school, but Peridot wanted to hide the fact that she went to a rich kid private academy, that and she hadn’t made friends, so she cut the conversation short. Amethyst just kept on talking, asking about her music preferences and what her favorite shows were. Peridot was happy, someone was genuinely interested in knowing her.

            They made their way to the giant open space that led to the gyms, cafeteria, and courtyard. In the middle was the largest statue she’d seen, probably ever, inside a school. It was a giant pink lion that stretched all the way to the vaulted ceiling, which was mostly glass so you could see the sky above him.

            “This is our mascot?” Peridot asked as she ogled the sight.

            “Yup! We’re the Beach City Lions man!” Amethyst replied happily watching Peridot stare straight up at the ceiling.

            “But…why is it pink?” She turned her attention back to Amethyst with eyebrows raised to see if there was any reason for the odd color choice.

            “Well, I heard he used to be a normal lion, but then our school did a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness way back and if we raised enough money they would paint him pink and change our colors. So, I guess enough people wanted to see that and boom, pink lions man.”

            “Oooh.” Peridot looked back up at the giant lion. How did they even get this inside?

            The bell rang and at once the gym doors flew open. Crowds of people came filing into the cafeteria or crossing it to go up the stairs, where more crowds of people were coming down to go to their classes. Peridot felt relieved Amethyst had come with her, had she been waiting alone for Pearl she might’ve gotten lost at sea.

            Pearl made her way through the crowd slowly, not bothering to push or prod her way through like most and her eyes found Peridot and Amethyst. For a second, they widened and she paused, but then she followed forward to meet them.

            “Yo, P!” Amethyst had a huge grin painted across her face as she stared up at Pearl.

            “Hey Amethyst, I thought you were going to go grab the table? And hello Peridot, looks like you’ve made friends.” Pearl smiled softly down at Peridot and Peridot felt some tension about sitting with the girl leave.

            “Wait, you two know each other? Amethyst why’d you make it seem like you didn’t?” Peridot squawked.

            Pearl frowned. “We’ve been best friends for basically, well, our whole lives as far as I can remember. She bit my arm in kindergarten and ever since then I’ve been stuck with her.”

            Amethyst laughed loudly. “Aw, you love though me you nerd!” She threw her arms around Pearl’s waist in a tight hug and Pearl blushed as she pushed her off.

            “You’re wrinkling my shirt! Now go grab the table so Steven and the others can find us!” She ordered and Amethyst saluted and giggled as she walked away.

            Peridot was standing there, giggling into her hand at the whole exchange and found herself really lucky that she had been introduced to such good friends. It would make having some for the first time so much easier, she was hopeful and felt a huge weight off her chest.

            Pearl motioned for Peridot to follow her and they walked around the cafeteria searching for food options.

            “So, over there we have a Pizza Hut, there’s a Subway a little down that way,” Pearl pointed down by the staircase, “there’s al la carte, which is basically pick and choose whatever if you’ve got beach bucks, oh those are these.” She held up her school I.D with her picture and barcode on the back. Peridot had gotten one of those but boy, did Pearl’s picture put Peridot’s to shame. She was so photogenic. She handed Pearl her I.D back and Pearl began explaining again.

            “And then there is food based on region so there’s Asian, Italian, Mexican, Indian, you name it, just look at the sign and the line has its own menu that works the same as al la carte with your beach bucks. And over there on the opposite wall is the usual lunch lines so you don’t need preloaded money on your card but you don’t get to choose what you eat.”

            Peridot stood in awe. She felt so small amongst the crowd, and so overwhelmed at the magnitude of this school. Was this even a school?

            “Are…all public schools like this?” She turned up to look at Pearl with her jaw slightly dropped.

            Pearl giggled at Peridot’s face and waved her hands. “No, no! This is one of the best funded in the state, from our test scores and athletics we get a lot of money to spend on things. Plus, this is Beach City Community High, it’s a school for our whole city, which I mean, isn’t massive compared to other areas in California, but it’s still a giant area. They built the school like forty years ago knowing that and they’ve constantly been renovating it to make it a pinnacle of innovative learning and give it a sense of independence while still having this community sense to itself.” Pearl took on a funny voice and Peridot raised an eyebrow at her. “That’s one of the sayings on every booklet out there about the school.” She laughed and Peridot giggled too.

            They decided for Peridot’s first day they’d get food together so she didn’t get lost finding the table and settled on going through al la carte to grab what food they liked individually while still being close. Peridot filled her tray with cookies and grabbed a slice of pineapple pizza with some sweet tea to drink and regrouped with Pearl who had chosen a Greek salad and a water bottle. They paid after waiting a bit in line and Peridot followed Pearl to the group’s table, on the far side of the cafeteria, the closest table to the lion statue that separated the cafeteria and courtyard from the gym and staircases. Good, she’d be able to find this by herself tomorrow.

            Amethyst was amicably talking to a boy with dark curls who was in tears laughing at something she had said, and he sat next to a tan girl with glasses who was smiling at their conversation with a book in her hands. Across from them was a tall dark skinned girl with a massive afro and leather jacket on, who also wore tinted ray bans that may or may not have been sunglasses. Was that a trend here?

            “Oh! Peri! Here!” Amethyst slapped an open spot at the table in front of the boy and next to the tall girl. “Saved you a seat!” She yelled.

            Everyone broke conversation to turn and look at Peridot and she felt her pulse pick up speed. _Play it cool, Peridot. You can do this. Just a little social interaction. It won’t kill you._ She felt her palms sweating as she carried her tray over and sat down on the little circle seat.  Pearl took the seat next to her and started poking her salad around.

            “So, everyone, I’d like you to meet my new friend! This is Peridot!” Amethyst extended her arms out as if to show off Peridot, “and Peridot, meet everyone!”

            The boy across from Peridot smiled brightly and waved, “Hey! My name’s Steven! Nice to meet you, Peridot!”

            “I’m Connie! It’s nice to meet you Peridot!” She chimed in her chipper voice.

            “Hello, name’s Garnet.” She said without any expression. Peridot didn’t know if the she was angry or just impassive.

            “Well, welcome to our little circle!” Amethyst exclaimed as she sat down and basically swallowed a burrito whole without choking.

            Everyone began talking about their first days, making sure to include Peridot and ask her about her day as well. She felt welcome. She felt like she might even belong. Amethyst went on about how Sour Cream and she were planning some event held at the beginning of every year to Garnet while Steven and Connie were debating the book she had. Pearl was intently listening on with Peridot to the conversation she could at least somewhat follow since she hadn’t read the book the two were analyzing.

            “So yeah, want to help Buck and I move Sour Cream’s speakers to the warehouse? I asked Jasper but she has practice and can’t make any time.” Amethyst grumbled.

            “Sure.” Garnet agreed, giving a thumbs up.

            “Garnet you’re going to _that_?” Pearl scoffed.

            “Oh, you are too, don’t think I’m not dragging you out!” Amethyst proclaimed as she stared down Pearl.

            “Uh, what’re we talking about?” Peridot asked as she raised her tiny hand.

            “Oh dude!” Amethyst exclaimed excitedly.

            “Oh gosh.” Pearl sighed simultaneously.

            “So, every year, well our class kinda started it, but this is the third anniversary of the back to school bash! There’s this warehouse on the coastline away from town that’s all rundown and crumbling and we throw parties in it because the cops don’t even go out that far since no one lives by it! No noise complaints, no police, just a high school party paradise.” Amethyst explained with stars in her eyes.

            “I’d hardly call that dump a paradise, Amethyst.” Pearl pouted.

            “Yeah the words rundown and crumbling don’t sell me exactly.” Peridot added.

            “Oh, you just wait ‘til you see it Peri, you’ll change your tune.” Amethyst smirked.

            “Wait, I’m invited?” She asked earnestly. She didn’t think someone completely new to the school would be welcome in a ‘back to school’ bash.

            “Uh, duh, you’re our friend now!” Amethyst smiled and Garnet threw up another thumbs up in response.

            “Plus,” Pearl chimed in dejectedly, “Amethyst is one of the people responsible for throwing it, so she’d force you to come anyways.”

            “I promise you a great night, milady.” Amethyst said in a British accent as she faked bowed and Pearl sighed and threw her head into her arms while Garnet giggled quietly.

            “Hey, I can help too, I’ve always wanted to consider myself a roadie and Sour Cream’s my friend anyways.” Steven spoke, apparently done debating about a marriage and a bird. “I can even ask if one of you can borrow the van so we can get it all down to the warehouse in one trip.”

            “Would Greg be alright with letting you use it to enable trespassing and throwing a giant high school party?” Amethyst asked.

            “Well, we can just tell him we are using it to help Sour Cream move stuff, I don’t want him to get in trouble with his job.” Steven compromised, stuffing a cat shaped cookie into his mouth and shrugging.

            “Wait Greg, as in like, the teacher Greg? Or is that a coincidence?” Peridot huffed. She saw the resemblance now, they looked the same save for the hair and height. Greg had to be his dad.

            “Yup! My mom and dad both work here!” He smiled.

            “I have them both!” Peridot yelled excitedly. “Your mom is my ecology and homeroom teacher and then I have your dad’s class right before this with Amethyst!”

            “Lucky, I don’t even get to take many classes with them! Mom mostly teaches advanced classes or only classes for upperclassmen and I already took intro to music so I had to get requirements in this year. I’m still in his music club though!” Steven preformed a perfect air guitar and Connie clapped beside him.

            “Speaking of classes, how are yours so far Peridot? Finding everything okay and enjoying your teachers?” Pearl inquired.

            “I like them all so far! I’m figuring out how to maneuver around here more, the colors actually help with memorization. Teachers are good, they all seem nice. My chemistry teacher scared me a little, she said that we need to make friends if we want to pass, and that isn’t a thing I do very well.” She sighed. It also happened chemistry was her worst subject. Double whammy.

            “Uh, yeah you do, look at you, first day and you’ve made five already.” Amethyst held up a palm with her fingers spread wide and Steven let a huge smile spread across his face.

            “Well, you guys are different. I don’t know! I can’t do it on my own.” She said solemnly looking down at her fingers intertwined and fiddling them.

            “Well, let’s help then. Who do you sit next to?” Garnet asked, putting a strong hand on Peridot’s small shoulder. Peridot guessed she was just impassive for the most part, but she was nice.

            “I wouldn’t know, she was asleep the whole hour and when the bell rang she was gone faster than the speed of light. The only thing I do know about her is she has really blue hair.”

            “No way!” Steven exclaimed.

            “Ohhoho!” Amethyst laughed. “You sit next to Lazuli!”

            “A what now?” Peridot asked, confused.

            “Amethyst, mean!” Steven scolded with a quick stern look. “That’s Lapis Lazuli! She and I are friends!”

            “Yeah, and you’re her only one!” Amethyst replied quickly.

            “So, is she like, an outcast or something?” Peridot questioned. She thought the edgy girl would be popular given her looks.

            “Or…something.” Pearl said slowly. “Lapis is, she’s hard to understand.”

            “And to deal with.” Amethyst added on. “She’s dating my cousin and ever since she did she’s been different. Not to mention I always get to hear about their fights.”

            Oh. Great, she was difficult.

            “Don’t let them fool you. Lapis is great! She just doesn’t show it to people easily and she has a lot of stuff on her mind usually.” Steven explained quietly.

            Pearl ‘hmpfed’ next to Peridot and she was torn. She decided give Lapis a chance and then make her own impression. Peridot could be difficult, she always had a million things on her mind and quirks that most people hated, so she’d give the girl a chance to make her own impression. If she was ever awake to make one.

            The rest of lunch was spent talking about clubs and teams and everyone trying to persuade Peridot to join them. Steven insisted she could have fun in music club even if she was musically inept. Pearl was the dance team captain as well as on the fencing team with Connie, though she didn’t suggest Peridot join, she just wanted to talk about her hobbies. Connie was a library assistant after school too, but that only happened a couple days a week. Garnet was president of the boxing club and everyone around the table agreed that she has a huge fan base at the school. She invited Peridot to come see one of her matches. Amethyst wasn’t in a club. She said she had more important things she had to occupy her time with. Pearl later explained that that was sleeping.

            Lunch eventually came to an end after the group had discussed the party Amethyst was throwing and who would be riding with who. Peridot had explained she’d need to get permission to go out and she’d get back to everyone, but she was overjoyed and wanted to go more than anything. This new group, the way she felt so included already without any awkward tension, she was happy, she was excited. Optimistic.

            After lunch Peridot walked back up to the first floor, where she had art. Her teacher insisted everyone call her by her first name, Vidalia, and she spent the hour holding an informal discussion on what everyone thought art was and how it impacts the world. Peridot added to the conversation a few times as to not be the silent kid in class, but she wasn’t comfortable enough to speak much, especially on art, so she stayed quiet after a bit. It wasn’t that she didn’t like art, more that she’d never made any, so she couldn’t contribute. Her house was full of overpriced art, so sure she saw it a lot, but her mother just had things because she was materialistic, not because it was a piece that inspired anything.

            Vidalia wrapped up class with handing out portfolios she’d made with everyone’s name on them and thin textbooks. ‘ _Great, another applied artistic class’_ Peridot thought. She couldn’t create art, not that she’d really tried, but her attempts at drawing her favorite anime characters always ended poorly, so she wasn’t too enthused.

            When the bell rang, Peridot bolted up and out. She realized her short legs weren’t made for the hallway crowd, so she intended to beat it. She wanted to be early to her A.P. biology class, however, that was all the way on the top floor, so she broke out in a half sprint speed-walk combo.

            Until, she felt her body hit the ground with a fierce thud. She was definitely just run over by a semi-truck. She searched for her glasses and repositioned herself to look up at a mountain of a girl towering over her with a scowl on her face.

            “Watch it squirt.” Her deep voice struck an instinctual fear in Peridot, who nodded quickly up at the girl while she stammered out an apology.

            The huge girl had ash blonde hair, nearly grey, and a deep tan. She was probably six foot, no probably more. Her golden eyes were piercing, and her shapely dark brows only emphasized that. Her biceps could squeeze Peridot’s head right off if they wanted, and you could see her six pack through her white tank top since her letterman jacket was tied tightly around her frame. Peridot focused on her plump lips that were still pulled into a scowl as she looked down upon Peridot, still in a heap on the ground. Slowly, they formed a smirk as she made eye contact with someone down the hall.

            “Hey, sorry, are you in a hurry?” The girl bent down to offer a hand to Peridot and Peridot extended her small palm forward gratefully.

            “Yes, sorr-“ Peridot tried to speak, but she quickly realized the girl had retracted her hand with a smirk as strong hands pushed Peridot from behind. Peridot tried to situate her arms to catch her before she hit the floor but failed as she hit face first. She heard laughter all around as she rose and held her face in pain, turning to glare at whoever had assaulted her.

            Another muscled girl in a letterman had appeared. A tall, bulky girl with dark skin and long dreads was high-fiving the first girl with a large grin. She had a different bead on each dread, forming a rainbow pattern. Her broad shoulders and huge arms were frightening, even more so than the first girl. Peridot scampered to grab her books and run away while they laughed at her. As she stretched her arm out timidly for her art textbook near the tall girls, the white-haired girl stomped it down under her foot and Peridot squealed as she fell back onto her butt.

            “Better run along squirt, don’t want to be late. I’ll see you around.” She smirked again as she slid the textbook along the floor with force to Peridot. The two giants laughed as they strolled away and Peridot looked down at her torn paper textbook cover.

            She needed some tape.

            Peridot grabbed her things and evaded the stares she’d been receiving as she sped to the fourth floor. She felt the sting of her forehead. She probably had a huge red mark, maybe even a bruise soon. Good, mother would really like that.

            Peridot took a seat in the front to the right in her A.P. biology class. The class went by in a blur, she wasn’t really focused on anything other than taping together the textbook and the sting of her skin. She had been bullied before. It was a natural occurrence, strong preyed on weak. Darwinism. Survival of the fittest. She knew this.

            Didn’t mean it sucked any less.

            She’d do whatever it took to avoid those two girls. Avoidance was a good strategy.

            When class ended Peridot was the first out the door, although much more aware of her surroundings this time. She had P.E. last, and honestly, she was dead tired from her first day. From socializing, which turned out great had still taken a lot out of her, to getting here early to navigate, to the 7-minute fight for survival in the halls each passing period, to face planting, she had no energy left.

            In the locker room bodies crammed together, changing completely out in the open and exposed as girls giggled and spoke with others. Peridot’s face flushed as she stormed past and found herself a dark corner and changed so quickly she almost fell and was slightly out of breath. She fiddled with her untamed hair and managed to get a half-up-half-down look again with a small pony tail on top spiking up. Her hair was never obedient, so this was a step for her. She pulled on her gym socks, she got calf high white socks with two black stripes because she thought they were cuter than just plain old ankle socks like every other girl. Secretly, Peridot enjoyed fashion a lot. Her mother just didn’t enjoy Peridot’s tastes, and therefore, Peridot was always dressed girly, prim and proper like her mother liked. Occasionally Peridot could sneak in a graphic tee or oversized hoodie to be delivered to the house without her mother caring about the purchase on Peridot’s card, but Peridot was too scared to do that much, so she didn’t really have any outfits she liked.

            Peridot received a monthly allowance ever since middle school, and she worked for her mother’s company as well with security set up, cataloging data and setting up programs that she occasionally needed to manage and maintain. It was Peridot’s true skill, the thing she loved. Technology. Programming. Designing. There was a small part of her that hoped she could earn a scholarship to Beach City University, have enough to pay for school through the money she’d saved, and go her own route with programming. She could create software, create games, work for global companies.

            But mother had other ideas. Her father was a doctor, and although he was rarely around from all the late nights and emergencies, her mother had always expected Peridot to be one too. Her mother owned her own business that was prospering and she held an influence everywhere, but she had told Peridot that she had been born to do that, to dominate. Peridot hadn’t been born to do that, she’d been born to listen to her mother, to her parents, and obey them. And so, she did. She didn’t know anything else.

            Peridot stood outside in the gym with the mass of other girls and boys in their baby pink tank tops that had a dark pink stripe with the letters BCCHS and black shorts with a pink paw on the left leg. She loved these uniforms. At her old school, they had to wear stuffy polos and long shorts. She hated those.

            The roar of talking was silenced by a loud whistle and heads turned in the direction of the noise. A small but muscular woman with deep brown skin and an afro similar to Garnet’s stood on the second row of bleachers in a bright red jump suit.

            “Listen up!” She barked as she began to read off names on a clipboard and eyed everyone for a few moments before proceeding. She placed everyone in alphabetical order in columns facing the bleachers, apparently, this was the order they’d need to be in everyday for attendance. She started a warm-up with simple jumping jacks, lunges, squats, and a jog in place before turning to everyone once more.

            “I’m Mrs. Carlisle, Coach Carlisle to some of you, and I’ll be your Phys. Ed. teacher. So now that intros are out of the way, make sure you line up like this every day so I learn your names. Today we are going to join Mr. Peachy’s class and just play Gold Mine since it’s the first day, but tomorrow we are outside for our unit! So, go to the center so we can listen to the rules.” She waved everyone off and the friend groups quickly gathered excitedly talking about the game. Apparently, Gold Mine was one of the favorite games among the whole school, so this was a treat.

            Peridot sat on the outside of the circle of people and listened intently to Mr. Peachy explain the rules. Bowling pins were lined up on the back red line of both sides, there was a jail made of cones, and there were soft balls to throw, be caught or tag. If you got hit with a ball from the opposite side and didn’t catch it, you had to go to jail. You could also go to run and steal a pin, but if tagged by a person with a ball on that side, you’d go to jail. To perform a jail break a runner from your side would need to run to the jail and tag you without being caught, which apparently was hard because people usually acted as guards, so you’d have to get them out first. The object was simple though, take all ten pins from one side, you win.

            The classes split into two, Peachy against Carlisle, and Peridot pouted as she adorned her smelly black penny. She wasn’t the most active, but the excitement of the room made her slightly thrilled to play. She decided the best thing for her to do would be try to get players out from the other team by throwing balls and guard the pins, she didn’t want to stand out running to grab a pin, and she wasn’t all that fast.

            Peachy blew the whistle and the class erupted into a roar over the pop music now blaring. The pang of rubber balls hitting flesh and giggles mixed with screams filled the room. Scuttling sneakers on the ground and groans as kids were tagged and thrown into jail right off the bat followed shortly. A group of tall, athletic boys were at the forefront of team Carlisle, effectively getting the less active members of team Peachy out one by one. Several tell boys and girls stood in front of their jail and guarded it, catching most of the fly balls thrown that would release the prisoners. As space opened up in the middle people began making more strategic runs down either side trying to grab pins. A trio from the boys at the front of the team ran and split in different directions, dodging tag attempts and running to the pins joyfully. One boy slipped and fell and was tagged gently while being helped up with a laugh, the other two remained successful as they sprinted back to their team’s side and placed the pins along their back red line, their defense holding strong and tagging all that had come to capture their ‘gold’ thus far. Peridot saw an opportunity to run through to grab the furthest pin on the outside, and decidedly did so. As soon as she took her first few steps across the red line, she immediately regretted it. The team locked onto her and began picking up balls to chase her. She scampered to the pin and grabbed it quickly with one hand before spinning and looking back to her team. She was able to dodge a lanky boy’s attempt to tag her by ducking and started for the opposite side. She evaded two more tag attempts and was so proud of herself.

            Nearly to the red line of safety she saw that wild grey hair and hesitated for a microsecond before realizing who that was. The jock that she’d run into only about an hour ago. Said jock turned to make eye contact with Peridot and her joy quickly turned to fear as she charged at her, ball in hand, ready to take away Peridot’s prize. Peridot kept running forward, about ten feet from the line now as the girl charged at her from the left. As she neared, Peridot saw her in her peripheral vision and just when she was within her reach Peridot scooted back and let her fly by. The girl simply flew forward and nearly fell from her own momentum while Peridot strolled to her side, eliciting a cheer from her team and placing the pin on the red line. The boys on her team all came over to congratulate her and she gushed as she caught her breath. She didn’t know why she ran, it just seemed fun. And it was fun. She was having fun!

            She turned after placing her pin to join the game once again, and right as she turned a ball flew into her face so hard it knocked her off her feet and onto her butt. She ended unceremoniously on her forearms and groaned as the ball bounced on the floor and her face ached. Despite being just rubber balls Peridot felt hot liquid pool on her face and she knew she had gotten a nosebleed within a second. How embarrassing.

            A whistle blew and the teenagers roar quieted as they looked at Mr. Peachy.

            “Jasper! No face shots! You’re out for the rest of the game!” He called.

 

            “Aw, c’mon coach, it was an accident! We all know I play with my feet, not my hands!” She defended despite her smirk.

 

            Mr. Peachy just pointed a thumb behind his shoulder to the bleachers and Jasper groaned as she dropped her ball and jogged to the bench. Mrs. Carlisle had hopped down off the bleachers, clean rag in hand and an ice pack for Peridot. Once they were in the locker rooms and off the court the whistle blew again and the game continued. Peridot looked back to her newfound nemesis on the bleachers and found that she too was staring at Peridot, smile on her face and a small wave as Peridot exited through the doors.

            She hated her.

            Mrs. Carlisle told Peridot she could change and head out to the nurse for the remainder of the class period, which was only about 20-ish minutes, so she did. Rather than change with everyone and wait by the gym doors with Jasper anywhere near. She stopped by her locker and deposited all her new books and papers in folders before heading to the nurse’s room down the hall, which connected with the guidance counselor’s office.

            She walked into the room and sat at the chair to the right of the door. Of course, she didn’t expect medical attention when school was out in twenty minutes, she just wanted a place to hide out the remainder of her exhausting day. The door to the guidance counselor’s office opened and surprisingly Garnet stepped out.

            “Hello Peridot.” She greeted, seemingly impassive but she had a little change in her voice that signaled a friendly tone.

 

            “Hey Garnet.” Peridot sighed, limply waving one hand and collapsing her face into her other palm with a slight cringe to the pain.

 

            “Something happen?” Garnet asked as she sat next to Peridot.

 

            “P.E. sucked and I got a bloody nose is all. And today’s been long. I just want my bed.” She ranted tiredly.

 

            “Aw, well I’m sorry about that, but hey day is almost over. You did it.” She gave her thumbs up as she did, a trademark Peridot was realizing.

 

            “Woo.” Peridot mocked with a laugh. “By the way, why’re you here?”

 

            “Oh, this is my mom’s office, so my teacher let me leave to come see her.” Garnet looked over at the sign and Peridot’s eyes followed. _Mrs. Carlisle_.

 

            Mrs. Carlisle? Like the other Mrs. Carlisle?

 

            “Any relation to P.E. Mrs. Carlisle or is that just another common last name around here?” Peridot asked feeling rather perplexed.

 

            “Nope, you’re right, that’s my other mom.” She smiled.

 

            For a second Peridot was confused. Two mothers? It wasn’t unheard of in this day and age of course, but Peridot had never met anyone with two mothers. She had questions. But her biggest question of all was-

 

            “Does everyone’s parents work here?” She laughed.

 

            Garnet laughed too and shook her head. “Quite a few do sure, but no not that many.”

           

            Peridot laughed and they sat in silence for a brief period of time before Garnet’s mother exited her office and locked it. She was a short woman too, long light hair and tan skin in a blue dress and had a dark blue brief case. She turned to the girls and waved to Peridot.

 

            “Ah Garnet, this must be your new friend. Hello Peridot, it’s nice to meet you. I hope you had a good first day.” She smiled, her eyes mostly hidden underneath her bangs.

           

            “Peridot was just telling me how rough P.E. was, mom must’ve overworked the class again.” Garnet joked, earning a giggle from her mother. Peridot sputtered saying that wasn’t true she just happened to have gotten a bloody nose.

            “Well, if you need anything, to hide out or just a break to adjust to the school, you’re always welcome to come to my office dear.” Mrs. Carlisle offered and Peridot politely promised to take her up on the offer. Honestly, she’d probably need to.

 

            When the bell rang announcing the end of the day Garnet followed her mom out and Peridot stood to leave, but Garnet opened the door again, requesting Peridot’s phone number and promising to add her to the group chat with everyone. Peridot smiled and gladly gave it. At least her day ended on a positive note.

            She traversed through the crowd to the parking lot and climbed into her green Jeep. Once she shut the door she released a giant groan she’d been holding in all day and let her forehead hit her steering wheel.

            She couldn’t wait to get into her bed.


	2. Windows Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot's second day of school gets her another new friend.

Peridot made the drive home thanks to her google maps telling her when to turn. She had been in Beach City for about a week but still hadn’t memorized the roads enough to just drive from memory, and the traffic stressed her out too much not to have a navigation app leading her. She appreciated the change in scenery though. Where Maine had been scenic with mountains, rustic cities and forests preserves, California was modern, sleek, and bustling with life. Palm trees lined the roads packed with shops and cafes, an abundance of people out exercising or socially gathering. Though she had lived in a large city in Maine as well, the quantity of people on those cobblestone streets paled in comparison to the number of busybodies here.

            She danced her small thumbs against the steering wheel to the beat of “Apartment” by Modern Baseball as she drove. The pace of the music helped her to unwind the stress of her day, and the relaxing vocals calmed her as she paused at a red light. Thinking back over her day, she couldn’t believe all that had happened. Last night had been her mentally preparing herself for a lonesome remainder of high school as the transfer nobody. Now she, possibly, had friends? Sure, they didn’t really know each other yet, but the whole point of making friends was getting to know one another, and now she had so many people who seemed like they wanted to get to know her. She couldn’t hold back the small smile that tugged at her lips as she took a right turn into her new subdivision. She wanted to get to know them too.

            For the most part, her day had been great. It wasn’t easy to memorize an entire schedule or massive building, but that wasn’t terrible in its own right. The only negative thing Peridot could take away from today was _her_. Jasper.

            _Ugh._ Peridot rubbed at her temple as she made her way onto her street. She opted to try not thinking about her. It wasn’t like she was bullying Peridot, more that she had just tormented her slightly today. Maybe they’d never run into each other again in the halls. Maybe P.E. would be broken up by classes and they’d never have the chance to clash again. Although, the supreme feeling of winning in Gold Mine was something she reveled in for the few moments she could. She’d miss that.

            Finally appearing into view was her new massive home, a two-story modern mansion. It was angular and white, with a large circle drive that had a small garden in the middle. Her house stretched around both sides of the circle drive, the garage on the left, the front door on the right. Tall palm trees surrounded the edge of the lot and towered even over the large white walls. It wasn’t that she hated the luxurious life she had, she of course had no objections. It was just, the way her family was, made her a little uncomfortable about their wealth. Her mother’s successful business meant everything about them had to be successful, how they’re viewed from the outside world meant everything to her mother, everything from her husband’s career to her assistant’s attire and, of course, all of Peridot’s choices. It was always a competition and a show, nothing about their family ever felt…like a family. Her father was always away, sometimes sleeping at the hospital in between heavy surgery shifts, and when he was home it was almost always just to rest before another day. Her mother was often at work but when she wasn’t she was with her assistant planning socialite brunches and parties and scheduling meetings with other large companies. Peridot felt out of place in her own household.

            She pulled into their three-car garage and locked her Jeep. She assumed no one would be home considering it was only four pm, but there was her mother’s Porsche. Another constant reminder of her family’s need to look the part. Great, so mother was home. Peridot readjusted the straps of her bag and slung her shoes to the side of the garage.

            She walked through the hallway from the connected garage to the living room. The house had large spacious windows, some even floor to ceiling, that soaked the house in natural light. The walls were mostly white, with some natural tones or grey stone accenting the open space, creating a larger and warm feeling. On the squared white sofa was her mother, Melina Diamond, with her assistant Marigold across from her in front of the fire place. Melina was tall, with short blonde hair but unlike Peridot’s spiked mess, hers was a sharp styled up do. She was in her early forties but she looked quite young for her age with flawless skin and sharp make up. She usually wore geometric inspired outfits and today was no different, a light-yellow undershirt with a white blazer and white pencil skirt. Her heels were still on, white with gold accents, and she had large triangle gold earrings in. Marigold often reflect her mother’s tastes, usually wearing something of a similar color and theme, but never as dazzling as to not detract attention from Melina. Marigold was only in her mid-twenties but she looked older. The stress of work had probably begun to eat at her youth.

            There were papers strewn about the coffee table between them and Marigold was holding two binders in her lap as well. Peridot’s mother scanned over some documents, not noticing Peridot enter the room, but Marigold caught her eyes and gave a small smile.

            “Hello Peridot, how was your first day?” she asked earnestly, the exhaustion from her voice cutting in slightly.

            “Hey Marigold. It was actually really good, I think I already made some friends.” She turned away as she answered to get a snack from the fridge.

            “Well that is wonderful news. I hope you like it here.” Marigold responded genuinely. Marigold had moved with them as well, Melina had praised her saying she could not work with any assistant as well as she did with Marigold and offering to pay for her relocation as well as paying for her to live in the apartment her mother had in Empire City. It was too good of an offer to turn down of course, but Peridot had suspected Marigold would’ve done anything to keep her position anyways. She basically lived to serve her mother. Everyone did.

            “Peridot, you just came home, you don’t need anything until dinner is served.” Melina scolded without even looking Peridot’s way. Peridot quickly shut the refrigerator door, turned to her mother with a nod and began her ascent upstairs to her room. “And congratulations on making friends dear. You’ll have to introduce them to me, I’d like to know what sort of people you’ll be occupying your time with.”

            Peridot knew that wasn’t as friendly as it could’ve let on. It was more threatening than anything, as if challenging Peridot, _let me see if you’re a disappointment_. She just kept walking til she reached her room at the end of the hall. All her things were already in place, her mother had hired movers to do all the unpacking for them, and Peridot had gone through the day after and rearranged everything to her desires. She hated the idea of other people touching her things. Her room was black and green alien themed, but still had white walls and brown wood flooring making it look lighter. There were newspaper cutouts of alien sightings and images of UFOs along one wall, mostly for aesthetic but she had read every article she’d pinned up to see how legitimate they were. Across from her bed was a large 70 inch tv with tower speakers on each side and her game systems underneath the tv on her glass stand. She had a black and green gaming chair in the corner of her room with her three-screen gaming computer. She wasn’t good at taking care of plants so there were only succulents and cactuses in her room, two on her desk, one on her nightstand and one near the window that was tall enough to be on the floor. She also had a few anime figurines on her desk. She had a green lava lamp that was already on because she forgot to turn it off before she left for school today, which illuminated her room in a green hue she liked. Above her bed was a large, framed, vintage Camp Pining Hearts poster, a treasure of hers she’d bought online. She had one wall that was entirely windows to the left of her bed that she dreaded. She felt exposed, even if the glass was one way glass, it still made her nervous. She walked over to her side tabled and pressed the remote so her black blinds would fold down. Then she fell onto her queen-sized bed with a plop.

            _I am so tired._

            Peridot turned on her speakers with Bluetooth, the soft cords of “Nothing Lasts” by Bedroom beginning. She let her eyes close and felt her body become lighter as thoughts became sparse, slowly drifting into sleep as she clung to her stuffed alien plush.

 

           

            Peridot woke again in absolute darkness, checking the time it was 9:40 pm. She must’ve slept through dinner. She might’ve been worried about it if someone had come to knock on her door, but seeing as no one had, she probably was having dinner alone again. Oh well.

            After grabbing leftovers from the fridge that their chef had made, she strolled upstairs and changed out of her school clothes and opted for boxers and an oversized hoodie. She opened the blinds so that she could take in the night sky as she ate her pasta. The stars always calmed her, the vast beauty above her, the light of even dead stars still reaching earth after so long. It was inexplicable to her. She always felt small, but under the starry sky, she felt as small as everyone else- she felt equal. The night brought about a calm that Peridot could never feel in day. Day was alive, fast, hectic. Night was dark, silent, and peaceful. It made Peridot feel relaxed and allowed her mind to slow down so she wasn’t hyper analyzing everything that happened.

            A glow from the corner of her eye got her attention. She turned from her place on the floor next to the window to grab her phone off her bed. **62 New Messages.**

            _WHAT?_ Had someone died? She…never had messages.

            There was one text from her mother, mostly saying how she was disappointed Peridot couldn’t make dinner and that she would be busy for the rest of the week at her apartment in Empire City but she would be back on Monday. Another text was from Marigold, informing her of the trip as well but notifying Peridot that she asked the chef to put leftovers away for Peridot before leaving for the night. That was kind. There was a text from her father saying he would be staying the night at the hospital again this week, but he would try and be home tomorrow so Peridot wouldn’t be alone all week, and that he loved and missed her. The rest of the messages that flooded her inbox were from numbers she didn’t recognize, mostly all in a group chat called “The Crystal Gems.” There was one text outside the chat she opened: **Hey Peridot, its Garnet. This is my number and I added you into our group chat too. See you tomorrow.** Peridot saved her number and clicked on the only other text not from the group chat: **Peri! yo did you give Garnet a fake number or do we assume you’re dead? respond girl!** Peridot didn’t get a name but she assumed that must’ve been Amethyst, she couldn’t imagine anyone else in the group sounding like that through text.

            Then she clicked on the group, which was still getting messages sent to it so it was hard to scroll up and missed what was said while she slept. Everyone had said hello to Peridot, given their names so she could save their numbers properly, then talked about their first day and the party this weekend. Peridot finally got through the many messages and responded with a simple text.

 

**Peridot (9:51 PM): Peridot reporting in.** She also attached an alien face emoji for emphasis.

 

**Amethyst (9:51 PM): HOLY! shes alive everyone we can call off the search party- all clear.**

**Steven (9:52 PM): haha hey peridot! this is steven by the way if you didn’t read the texts before!**

**Connie (9:52 PM): Hi Peridot! Its Connie!**

**Peridot (9:52 PM): I got everyone’s numbers don’t worry.**

**Pearl (9:53 PM): So, good first day then?**

**Amethyst (9:53 PM): yeah dude was it cool after lunch? and yo did you ask your mom about this weekend? im making you come**

**Peridot (9:54 PM): Yeah for the most part, pe kinda sucked but that’s just pe. No I didn’t ask, but I don’t think I will. It seems like both of my parents are going to be gone anyways.**

**Amethyst (9:54 PM): SICK! we gonna paaaartaaay!**

Peridot smiled at her phone. She was a junior and this would be her first party if she really went through with this. Well, not her first party, but her first high school party. Her mother’s parties were always stuffy, with proper conduct and unspoken rules between the guests. This would be a party where she could dress how she wanted, not in a stuffy, expensive dress and clunky heels. She could hear music from people her age, not just piano or soft jazz from a live band. Sure, she was still completely nervous, but the thrill of disobeying her mother and making memories was overpowering her anxiety.

**Garnet (9:55 PM): I’ll pick you up Friday night then Peridot.**

**Steven (9:56 PM): Yeah my dad gave us the van for the night!**

**Pearl (9:56 PM): Glad you had a decent day Peridot! PE is always full of brutes and safety hazards, I can understand the dislike for the class.**

They texted about nothing really important, just asking what one another was up to, Amethyst claiming Peridot as her “soul sister” for sleeping so long after school, and getting to know everyone. Steven and Connie were hanging out at the moment, so only one of them would respond for the pair every few minutes. Apparently they were marathoning some medical drama show that Connie wasn’t allowed to watch at home and Peridot thought that was funny. Garnet was training with her mom, so her texts were here and there for a long time, but she’d send selfies of her in her gear with a thumbs up whenever she got a water break. Pearl was preparing a routine for change of season dance team tryouts and was asking Amethyst if she could cut the music for her. Peridot offered to do it considering Amethyst wasn’t replying as she was too busy playing video games, and Pearl was ecstatic that someone else could figure it out for her. As Peridot sat in her dark room, back against her window, she felt slightly happy. Life wasn’t always lonely.

After a while, Peridot got the motivation to play video games because of Amethyst’s ranting about her terrible squad mates in fortnite. Peridot debated for a minute about solo gaming all night on her PC, but she had an idea.

 

**Peridot (10:13 PM): Amethyst, Xbox or PS4?**

**Amethyst (10:15 PM): ps4 dude duh!**

**Amethyst (10:15 PM): WAIT! if you have psn add me! _amerocks_!**

Peridot smiled and added her new friend, then grabbed her headset and pulled up fortnite. As she waited Amethyst joined her game, her raspy voice coming into her headset.

            “DUDE! You game? This is sick! We’re playing duos.” Amethyst cheered loudly and Peridot’s ears once again had to adjust to the sheer volume of her friend.

            “Yeah, it’s kinda my whole life? Is it not obvious I’m a nerd?” Peridot laughed nervously and clicked the ready button so they could begin the game.

            “Uhm, I mean yes but not a cool nerd! You kinda looked like a little Pearl today with your jeans and flowy blouse. You even had that hella expensive dork watch on!”

            “Hey! For your information, I have a better fashion sense than that, it’s just my mom was going to see my outfit so I wore what she probably would’ve wanted me to. And for the record, I am cool.” Peridot smirked and readjusted in her seat on her bed across from the tv as the game started up and the bus loomed over the map for the drop.

            “So, what? You’re you, not your mom. Dress how you wanna man! I wanna see this alter Peridot now, see if she really is any cooler. Where do you want to land?” Amethyst asked with more focus in her voice.

            “Anywhere but tilted towers, everyone goes there.”

            “Tilted towers it is!” Amethyst cried. Her arrow on the map left the bus and started skydiving towards tilted towers while Peridot remained on the bus.

            “What the heck Amethyst! I just said not there!” She yelled as she jumped out after her partner and dove towards the deathtrap.

            “I knew you weren’t gonna leave me stranded man!” Amethyst laughed loudly. “We just gotta loot this place first and score some easy kills!”

            Peridot hmfed to herself and began grabbing guns and ammo on top of one of the large towers, still close enough to Amethyst that if one of them needed help the other would be there, but far enough that they were looting in different areas of the map. Amethyst would laugh and yell whenever she was fighting and Peridot hadn’t come into contact with anyone yet, she was just looting and finding chests so far.

            They were making idle chat until Peridot was making a run across and open area and bullets hit her from above. She quickly built around herself and Amethyst’s arrow marker showed her coming closer towards her teammate. Peridot focused on her game and built up a three-story fort, edging out over the stairs to scope who had been shooting at her and found a duo hiding in the building across from her, through a window. Her heart hammered more in her chest, her hands shaking slightly from the rush of adrenaline coursing through her. She loved gaming, she always had a short temper, not necessarily anger but irritation was quick to come to for her. Gaming allowed her to control that surge of energy and pour it into intense focus. She waited patiently for the opponents to come out from behind the wall so she could get a shot in, and once they did she downed the first opponent in one shot and they crawled out of view. She quickly built up and over to a new angle to try and take out whoever was going to heal the person she just downed, making sure to scan the area around her for other combatants. Amethyst was now close enough and joined her following Peridot’s build pattern so they were together.

            Peridot got across from the enemy and built a one-story metal fort and took a shot at the healer and hit them, but they must’ve had a shield because they just jumped back. That made Peridot frustrated.

            “Clod.” Peridot huffed as she started building over to them and pulling out her epic class pistol to finish the job, gripping her controller with a firm hold.

            “A what?” Amethyst laughed as she followed Peridot getting out her double pump.

            Peridot chose to ignore her as she jumped down onto the surface their enemies were on and began shooting at the wood barrier they’d built. As they began shooting the enemy was alerted they were there, and began spraying the floor of the building with the minigun. Amethyst yelled and built a wall in front of herself and began retreating from close combat while Peridot built a wall and vowed to eliminate this monster for halfing her health.

            “Clods! Clod! You muddy, cruddy clod! Feel my wrath!” She screamed into her mic as she headshot the downed teammate, then ran the opposite way to go around the back of the other teammate and down them. She hid around the corner of Amethyst’s wall she’d built and jumped and fired in the air to eliminate the enemy, who disappeared from the game and dropped a hefty sum of loot. Thankfully, they had a medkit.

            Amethyst had been laughing during the whole exchange and Peridot just now calmed down enough to focus on it.

            “Why’re you laughing! I got them!” Peridot huffed as she looted the floor and then built around herself to heal. Her hands still shook slightly from the battle and she kept scanning the room to make sure no one else was coming in close.

            “You! You’re funny!” Amethyst laughed. “What is a clod?”

            “Its…it’s like my word!” Peridot felt embarrassed. She forgot she was gaming with someone new, someone who didn’t know she yelled angrily during every battle she had and certainly didn’t know her creative use of curse words. “It’s like a bad word, but it’s my word. I think I made it up as a kid or looked it up or something because I wasn’t allowed to cuss, but I kept it.”

“Aw, Peri! You’re so cute!” Amethyst teased.

            “Shut up, clod.” Peridot grumbled with heated cheeks. No one had ever called her cute before who wasn’t at least related to her, and even then they barely did.

            “Ouch, you wound me!” Amethyst joked while laughing. Peridot hadn’t ever met someone who laughed as much as her, but she liked it.

            They continued to play fortnite all night long, after winning second place in duos they vowed revenge and started up another game, where they unceremoniously died in the top 60 still, and started up another game. And before either of them knew it, it was four am.

            “Dude, Peri, we killed it, and you’re well on your way to becoming my new best friend, but I am going to die tomorrow if I don’t sleep right this second.” Amethyst groaned through Peridot’s headset.

            Peridot laughed, even though she’d gotten in a ton of sleep after school she was starting to get heavy eyelids as well. “Yeah, I’m for sure going to fall asleep tomorrow in chemistry.” She sighed as she fell back onto her huge bed, arms out at her side.

            “No man, you can’t fall asleep then! How else are you gonna get a chance to talk to Lazuli!” Amethyst exaggerated with a laugh.

            “I’m not even thinking about talking to her!” Peridot quickly defended. “It would just be cool if we got along considering we are lab partners and everything. Its gonna suck if the whole year is awkward.” Peridot was dreading her class in four hours. Oh clod. Four hours.

            “Wait! You’re right! We need to sleep! We’re going to die tomorrow!” Peridot yelled as she rushed to shut her blinds, lock her door, and crawl under the covers in record breaking time.

            “Dude- I know! I just said that! Goodnight Peri! See you tomorrow nerd!”

            “Goodnight Amethyst you clod.” Peridot smirked as she turned off her headset and exited the game. She set her alarm for seven am with a cringe, placing her headset on the nightstand beside it. She moved her controller over and clicked to play the dvd that was currently in the console. The beginning of Camp Pining Hearts started to play and she drifted to sleep, clutching her alien tightly.

            As she drifted away, she thought of her new friends, of how funny Amethyst was, and lastly what Amethyst had said. She’d get to talk to Lapis Lazuli tomorrow. Maybe. That made her nervous. She decided to ignore that and focus on dreams of her favorite tv show.

 

 

            Seven am came too quick. Peridot almost hit snooze on her alarm clock but remembered how awful fight for survival was in the halls, which prompted her body to begin moving so she could beat the first hour rush and just stroll into her class. She rolled over lazily and swung to turn off her alarm, then slowly rolled the rest of the way til she plopped on her floor. The room was still almost entirely dark from her blinds and she begrudgingly lifted them halfway with the remote. Walking into her attached bathroom she took a brisk shower and brushed her teeth. She put product in her hair, not that it ever mattered but she still made the effort. She applied the makeup she knew how to, which was merely foundation and mascara, then shuffled her half-asleep body to her closet. Thinking back to Amethyst’s comment, she felt like throwing together an outfit more her style. Who cared? Her mother was gone for a week, her father never cared, and this was her chance for a fresh start. To reinvent herself.

            She grabbed her light wash high-waisted jeans and “I Want to Believe” shirt and tucked it in. Her ankles were slightly exposed so she chose her calf high alien print socks and put her black Adidas superstar shoes on. She almost threw on a beanie, but it was far too hot out to add anything else to her person, so she just grabbed her circular glasses and book bag before heading downstairs.

            It was only 7:30, so Peridot had a few minutes of leeway before she _had_ to drive. The smell of fresh coffee filled her nose as she made her way downstairs. She knew that they had a chef but she assumed she’d only be there when it was dinnertime, but there she was in the kitchen, working away at cleaning the countertops.

            “Morning Topaz.” She yawned and offered a weak wave. Topaz nodded to her and resumed her work. She wasn’t a woman of many words, but she was kind, that much was obvious by the way she’d feed the squirrels in the backyard every morning. Peridot grabbed herself a cup of coffee, with cream, and a banana before heading towards the garage to her Jeep.

            The morning traffic was about as bad as it had been yesterday, but the drive flew by. In fact, most of her morning had been a blur in her sleepy brain until she was seated on her chair at her lab table. Thoughts of Lapis Lazuli came back to her. She wanted to try talking to the girl today, before they became too comfortable in silence with each other and it was awkward. That rested on whether or not Lapis would stay awake in first hour or not. Or if Peridot would. Peridot pulled out her notebook and rested her chin on it, pathetically dragging her coffee cup towards her face until she had to lift herself to take a drink, then dropping her head again. Today was going to be long.

            Lapis shuffled in at the one minute bell and took out her earphones as she entered. She was looking at her seat when Peridot turned to look and see who entered the room. Lapis wore a long black dress that went just past her knees in an angle. It flowed around the swell of her chest and the curve of her hips delightfully. She had calf high black socks on and black platform shoes with leather straps. Over her dress hung a light blue cardigan, presumably to avoid dress code, and a black choker was tied around her slender neck. Peridot’s eyes were magnetized to her, she felt stuck. Their eyes caught for a minute and Lapis’s blue orbs went a little wide as she paused in her tracks for a second. Peridot felt the embarrassment of being caught and whipped her head back to the front and took a drink of her hot coffee, slightly burning her tongue. Lapis smirked and continued her walk to her seat and immediately her head fell onto her palm as she rested on her elbows.

            Lapis side eyed Peridot while covering her mouth and Peridot froze under the feeling. _Quick! Say something! You just got caught staring! Make friendly conversation, you clod!_ She monologued. Compliments were a good starting point for friendship right? Or would that be weird to tell someone you didn’t know anything about that they looked like a goddess?

            “You look different today.” A soft voice spoke. “Yesterday you looked like a stiff, but today you look like a dork.”

            Peridot’s mind slowly processed that Lapis had initiated conversation with her and she was internally imploding. So far, Lapis had only insulted her, but she was making an effort to speak to her, so Peridot was confused. Best to stay polite.

            “Thank you?” Peridot questioned, her face giving way to her confusion.

            “You’re welcome.” Lapis said as she grinned into her hand. Peridot smiled, successfully making the appropriate choice on how to respond.

            Opal walked into the room and commanded attention with her heels and stride. They both lingered their eyes on one another for a moment before turning to the front with tired eyes. Opal began to take roll and begin lecture. Peridot lazily stared forward, not bothering to take notes, only bothering to take sips of her coffee every few minutes. Lapis was doodling something in her notebook and Peridot didn’t want to pry, but she enjoyed watching Lapis’s hand dance around the page, her slim wrist swaying in gentle motions as she sketched away. _Stop staring!_ Peridot’s mind instructed her and she slowly drew her eyes back up to the front.

            “Now class, it’s important that we get off to a strong start this semester, not just ease into things, or you won’t have the proper mindset to learn the material you’ll be covering. For this reason, I’m assigning you and your lab partner your first partner project!” The class audibly groaned in unison, although some pairing s merely high fived each other. “Since we haven’t covered anything but review it isn’t a challenging first project but you’ll be reviewing the basics and writing up reports and graphs. This will need to be done together outside of class since the rest of the hour is devoted to the in-class lab. This will give you and your partner a good chance to work on your…chemistry.” Opal giggled to herself and a few kids joined in but most cringed at the corny joke. Peridot’s internally operations had ceased the moment Opal had said the words partner project. Now she had to be near Lapis. She still didn’t know how to function around her. Or if she could.

            Opal handed out stapled worksheets down the rows and everyone began moving towards the front of the room to grab safety goggles. Peridot followed suit and grabbed the larger pair to fit over her thick framed face already. What power she felt, as a six-eyed dork. She sat back at the table while Lapis waited to get her glasses and began preparing the materials necessary for lab from their shared equipment drawer. As she placed the tray of test tubes on the surface of the desk she heard a sweet giggle and quickly turned to see a blushing Lapis laughing into the sleeve of her cardigan. Peridot’s heart palpitated.

            “What!” Peridot demanded with her cheeks burning. Lapis continued giggling quietly until she looked up at Peridot with the most expression she’d seen on her face yet. Her eyes alit and her smile edging out softly she spoke.

            “Nothing you just managed to get even dorkier and it’s funny.”

            “…You’re a clod.” Peridot muttered, not that Lapis heard, or if she did, she didn’t say anything.

            They began at work on their experiment, Peridot mostly retrieving amounts of liquids and powders they needed and Lapis leading the experiment. She surprisingly knew her stuff. As Peridot observed the solution and recorded values Lapis was already completing the math for the second page. This continued on for the remaining half hour of class, Lapis diligently working on the complicated questions Peridot wanted to ignore and Peridot following the instructions to complete their product. Peridot’s job was easy so she found herself observing Lapis as well. The way her blue hair kept falling in front of her eyes and she’d sweep it to the side before biting her lip and punching numbers into a calculator. Her eyes lit up a small amount each time she found an answer she was satisfied with. Her handwriting was small and precise, though slanted and elongated. She caught Peridot staring as Peridot looked away and found their solution boiling a bit too much and she immediately turned the hot plate down. When Peridot wasn’t looking, Lapis let a small smile twist up the corner of her mouth.

            When the bell was finally about to ring, Lapis started packing her things up and turned to Peridot.

            “So, do you have a free period?” She questioned, taking pictures of her lab before packing it away.

            “Uh, no, I had to take an extra class to catch up. What about lunch?” Peridot replied looking over her schedule on her phone to see exactly what time she had lunch.

            “Uh…lunch won’t work for me. Busy.” Lapis replied without looking at Peridot. Her sentence was harsher and Peridot quickly thought of another option.

            “What about after school then? We can finish the report and make the graphs on excel in the library or the courtyard.”

            “Swim team practice after school.” Lapis dejected. Peridot was thinking about dividing the work up and just sending the answers to one another when Lapis spoke again. “We could, after my practice? But I can’t at my place…so unless you’re cool with having me over, I guess we could just divide it?”

            Peridot’s brain spun on hyper drive for a second, mulling over the idea. Plus side, she could have another friend. Down side, Lapis was a lot harder to deal with than her friends, she made Peridot…distracted. Plus side, she could have Lapis explain chemistry to her, because from the looks of it she knew her stuff. Down side, Lapis would see her house and automatically assume that she was a spoiled rich girl. Plus side, maybe they could be friends if Peridot gave her a chance like Steven suggested?

            “Um, yes, yeah, that’ll be fine!” Peridot stammered. “What time is swim done?”

            “It’s done around six but I’ll want to go home and shower and change or I’ll smell like chlorine. So, seven?” Lapis questioned. Peridot nodded sharply, making a mental note to have her entire room spotless before seven. Lapis pulled her phone and headphones out and passed it to Peridot’s small hands. Peridot looked up at her with a raised eyebrow, unsure of why she was holding the other girl’s phone until she looked at the screen as Lapis just looked at the phone again. Peridot put her number into Lapis’s phone. She wasn’t sure about what to put for the name, and impulsively went with her name and the alien face emoji. She held the phone out for Lapis to retrieve and Lapis smiled as she looked at the contact name.

            “Cool name. I’ll send you the pics of the math and then text you after swim. See ya later dork.” Lapis waved coolly as she turned around and jumped off her seat just in time for the bell.

            Peridot took in a second to go over the whole situation. She did well right? No conversational errors? She was probably staring too much. Lapis was just, a very attractive looking individual. That was obvious. It was a fact that humans enjoyed appreciating the beauty of others, so they looked at them. Yes, she was just admiring her appearance and it wasn’t weird at all. And Lapis seemed to think she was funny, at least in some way. Probably. When she wasn’t insulting Peridot.

            But she got her phone number! Granted it was just for a school project, but maybe she could become friends with her through this. A good start either way.

            Peridot sped through the halls to her Japanese class that went by in a blur. In ecology, Rose was beginning a lecture of reviews on case studies of sloths, which was both disgusting and interesting. Sloths could be a very formidable predator if they moved faster. As she was learning about the lengths a male sloth would go for reproduction, which was extensive, her phone buzzed in her pocket. A new unknown number lit her screen.

           

**Unknown (10:34 am): hey, its Lapis. heres the chem work and how i did it. is your house near any bus stops? not school bus, like metra stops.**

**Peridot (10:34 am): Thanks. I wouldn’t know, I haven’t really gotten this place memorized yet. Why, do you need a ride?**

**Lapis (10:37 am): uhmm, well i have a ride home from school after swim. but at 7 i doubt she is gonna drive me anywhere. is that okay with u tho? i dont wanna make u use ur gas**

**Peridot (10:38 am): Yeah it’s no problem. Just send me your address later then and I’ll google maps my way to you.**

**Lapis (10:40 am): thanks peridot. ur cool**

Peridot smiled at her phone. Relocating to California was the best.

 

            Ecology finished fast. Rose bid everyone a good rest of their day and all the students shot up to leave, or to surge towards Sour Cream. They began bombarding him with questions, asking what tracks he was going to be playing, if any were new originals, and if they could bring people they knew. Sour Cream froze up with the amount of questions so Buck pulled his book bag strap and moved them both out of the class. As the crowd began to follow Jenny infiltrated them and began answering all the questions the kids had and Sour Cream shot her a relieved smile as he turned back to talk to Buck.

            Peridot was making her way out after the crowd when a slender hand found her back. She jumped forward like a scared cat and turned to look at the offender, only to see Pearl standing there, hand still in the space where Peridot’s back had just been.

            “Sorry!” Peridot squealed. “Just, not used to having friends.” She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck and looked down at her feet as they walked in stride together.

            “No, no, it’s fine Peridot. I should’ve made sure you were comfortable with me before I just, yanno, grab you.” Pearl stammered awkwardly, retracting her hand to hold her book bag strap.

            “No, no! I mean, it is fine, and I don’t mind. I’m just not used to it. It’s a little weird, but like, a good weird. Not that you’re weird that’s not what I’m-“ Peridot sputtered to Pearl, her hands out in defense as she processed the words that were falling out of her mouth.

            Pearl merely giggled into her hand and rested it on Peridot’s shoulder. “I get it, you’re fine. I’ve gotta run to class to change but since you have class with Amethyst next hour can you bring her this?” Pearl held up a Starbucks Frappuccino for Peridot to transport. “She sent me a goodnight text at four am this morning and I know by now she is probably dying.”

            Peridot agreed to the mission and Pearl thanked her with a shoulder squeeze before she ran off down the stairs to class. Peridot’s short legs followed after, carefully shielding the drink in her care from the mass of bodies around her. She got into music to see Amethyst lying face down onto her desk with both arms spread eagle over their shared surface. Without making any greeting, Peridot simply placed the sweating drink on the back of Amethyst’s neck and carefully removed it in time as the white hair flipped up with brown eyes giving Peridot the death stare followed.

            “Delivery.” Peridot shrugged as she sat her bag down and joined Amethyst in laying her head on the table.

            “Oh dude, you didn’t have to! I didn’t even think to get you any coffee now I feel bad.” Amethyst frowned.

            “Not from me, Pearl told me to give you it. Said you sent her a goodnight text and she knew you that were gonna die.” Peridot lazily spoke as her eyes were fluttering closed.

            “Aw, what a nerd.” Amethyst said with an emotion in her voice that betrayed her words. Peridot turned to look up at Amethyst drinking her beverage to see a small blush on her cheeks and a grin still plastered on her face even as she drank. She filed that information away. A dash of blue came through the threshold of the door as the minute marker rang and Peridot immediately perked up to wave at her new friend, until she saw her face.

            Lapis looked distant and sad like how she did the first day Peridot saw her. Only this time Peridot looked at her long enough to see the red in her eyes. Had Lapis been crying? As Lapis made her way to her window seat she dropped her things and stared out the window. Peridot felt her smile die on her lips and she just turned to observe Lapis. Amethyst took a break from gulfing down her drink to watch Peridot and elbowed her slightly.

            “What’s up?” Amethyst asked, wondering if she was right that Peridot was staring at Lapis. Peridot turned to her, not wanting to draw attention to the fact she saw Lapis upset and simply replied: “Nothing, just tired.”

            Music class was tough to get through. They weren’t doing anything applied yet, just learning basics, and both Peridot and Amethyst kept dozing off, that is, until music would play from a video on screen and jolt them awake. When the hour bell rang they trudged their way down to the cafeteria both debating about how to spend the hour, eating or sleeping? They ended up eating and talking for maybe 20 minutes before they both scuttled down to the end of the table to take short naps while their friends carried on with socializing. And taking pictures.

            The rest of the day flew by and next thing Peridot knew it was her final hour. She never hated PE more than she did right now. With barely the energy to change into her uniform she made her way out to her assigned place in roll call and waited for their warm ups to begin. Today they were starting their first unit outside, soccer. Thankfully the classes were split up and they were just “learning” how to pass a ball between their partners before turning over to shooting the ball later in the hour. It was mostly a volunteer basis after mandatory passing was finished so Peridot tried to make it seem as though she was participating without actually ever shooting the ball. As she spaced out and tried to blend with others in her class she watched Peachy’s class from across the field.

            Jasper was good. Really good. She was doing something to keep the ball in the air using only her feet and a bunch of girls and guys were surrounding her. The guys were chanting numbers as she bounced the ball up from her ankle, to her knee, to her elbow, and back down to her ankle. The girls were smiling and talking excitedly. Peridot sighed and turned back around. That muscle head was showing off. She was…annoying.

            When Coach Carlisle blew her whistle signaling the end of the day, Peridot couldn’t believe she was still alive. The nearly summer heat and unforgiving rays of the sun had nearly done her in in the last hour of her day. She marched back with students to the locker room, although many just took off to their cars straight after class since the day was over. That was a good idea. Peridot felt a birth of new life in her as she entered the air conditioning and quickly made her way to her locker and out to her car in minutes. She couldn’t wait for her after school nap.

 

 

            6:45. That’s when Peridot woke up. She set an alarm to wake her up just a bit before Lapis would need to be picked up and ran to the bathroom to fix her bedhead that had undoubtedly taken over during her slumber. Her hair was rising in spikes in every direction and she brushed it down and tied the top into a small pony, giving her a wild half up half down look. She then checked her room for the hundredth time to make sure it was clean and that anything embarrassing was hidden, namely her stuffed alien plush. He was in her bedside table drawer for now.

            At 7 Peridot’s phone pinged with a text from Lapis, though it was just her current location. Peridot set off, informing Topaz someone would be over out of courtesy even though Topaz was about to leave for the night, and within 12 minutes she was apparently at Lapis’s home. It was a nice, modest place. The walls were tan and the roof was red. The architecture was more that of an Italian styled home with arches all over and many flowerbeds. Lapis emerged from the door, shutting it harshly and storming into the driveway after shutting the gate to the house. She looked at Peridot’s lifted Jeep with curiosity before opening the door and getting in.

            “Hey.” Lapis simply stated giving Peridot a faint smile. Her hair was still wet from her shower, brushed back behind her ear revealing the industrial bar and smaller piercings Peridot had seen before. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, maybe mascara, but her skin was glowing and her freckles seemed darker under the fading sun than they did under the fluorescent lights of school. She wore a black choker and black crewneck with pink athletic shorts that said LIONS SWIM in white font and revealed her tan, long legs. Peridot gulped and uttered a faint hello as she switched to reverse her Jeep. She turned up the volume to the song playing from her Spotify, Revelation by Balance and Composure. The drive was silent for most of the way, Lapis just staring out her window at the sunset as the wind blew her hair back and dried it. Peridot had to keep her eyes on the road to ensure their safety, but at red lights and stop signs, she’d admire the soft expression on Lapis’s face. She looked happier than she had in music. Good.

            “Hey Peridot?” Lapis asked, arms still crossed on the window and head leaning on them, though she turned her attention to Peridot.

            “Yeah?” Peridot asked, glancing a look at Lapis but flashing her eyes back toward the road.

            “How do you get into your Jeep? You’re so tiny.” Lapis asked teasingly.

            “You’re a clod.” Peridot uttered and hmfed.

            “Ah, so you did call me that earlier.” Lapis confirmed as she turned her head back out the window, admiring the almost entirely dark sky now.

            “Hey Peridot?” Lapis begged her attention again.

            “What now?” Peridot challenged, ready to threaten to let Lapis walk.

            “I like your music taste.” She noted.

            “Oh, well, thanks.” Peridot replied. Lapis was silent for the rest of the drive, tapping her fingers to the beat of the songs that played. Peridot didn’t know if she picked up music easily or if she knew the songs, but either way, she didn’t disturb the silence of the ride. It was comfortable. It was cleansing, not feeling pressure in the air to speak, rather just peaceful enough to exist.

            As they neared Peridot’s house, she felt her palms work up a sweat. She hadn’t exactly prepared a speech, but she felt like she needed to say something about her house. She didn’t want others knowing that she was rich.

            “So, about my house…” Peridot began, drying one of her hands along her jeans. “Uhm, don’t judge okay? I don’t want people knowing where I live because I don’t want to get judged, yanno?” Peridot squirmed a bit in her seat as she took the right to her neighborhood.

            “I won’t judge, I hate getting judged myself.” Lapis uttered in a small voice. “So, I’m the exception huh?”

            “The exception?” Peridot asked, turning her attention fully to Lapis from the strange question.

            “Yeah, you don’t want people knowing where you live, but I get to know?” Lapis asked with a playful smile on her lips.

            Peridot blushed a bit. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t think Lapis was one for telling other people’s secrets, so she wasn’t too worried about her telling others. She just didn’t want Lapis to think any differently of her. That was her main concern.

            “Yeah, whatever clod. Okay, we’re here.” Peridot said as she pulled into her circle drive and hit the remote to open her garage door. She glanced a look at Lapis to gage her reaction but her face was hidden and all she could see was the mane of blue turned to the window. She parked her car and jumped out gracefully as Lapis exited the vehicle and stood waiting to follow Peridot’s lead. Peridot kicked off her shoes by the cubby on the floor and turned to Lapis.

            “So, ta-da, haha, uhm, welcome to my home!” She awkwardly said as she held out her arms in an unveiling gesture.

            “You don’t want people to know about this why? It’s awesome.” Lapis said with a small punch to Peridot’s shoulder that was barely light enough to move her.

            “I don’t want people thinking I am snobby, or something. I just don’t like all the ideas associated with wealth, that’s not really me.” _More like my family._

            “I’m not judging, and your secret is safe with me.” Lapis promised as she held up a hand swearing to some power.

            “Cool, thanks.” Peridot smiled and lead her into the house and up the stairs. Lapis kept marveling the house and saying ‘dude, this is so nice’, to which Peridot just awkwardly thanked until they finally reached her room. Once inside she turned her lava lamp on and opened the blinds to the night sky. She plopped down onto her bed and motioned for Lapis to join, seeing as her desk had too much crammed on it for anything other than gaming to be performed there.

            They sat and began unloading their labs and Peridot got her mac out and pulled up excel she had downloaded onto it. Lapis kept looking around the room, taking in all the details that gave way to who Peridot was as a person. She smiled at the UFO wall clippings, thinking how cute it was Peridot was so heavily into space.

            “Your room is really great, it’s so personalized. Its homey I like it.” Lapis said as she threw her book bag on the ground.

            “My cave is my favorite place!” Peridot prided herself.

            They began working on finishing the second page of lab, though Lapis did most of the math for that, and Lapis told Peridot what values to enter into the computer so the graph came out correct. After a little over an hour it seemed they were finished and ready to print the report.

            “You’re super good at chemistry. Is it like your favorite subject or something?” Peridot asked as she waited for the first graph to print out.

            “No, I just happen to be good at it, which is weird because I’m not that great at biology and you’d think the two would kinda relate.” Lapis shrugged, sitting on the bed.

            “I wish I could understand chemistry, it’s my worst subject. I swear its evil.” Peridot grumbled, handing Lapis her copy of graphs and starting to print her own.

            “Well,” Lapis started, “it’s a good thing I’m your lab partner then right? I can tutor you.”

            “Wait, really?” Peridot paused her actions to look at Lapis like she was some saint.

            “Yeah I mean, if you don’t know what’s going on it’ll just make labs harder for me anyways.” Lapis shrugged the whole thing off. Peridot felt a little awkward, like she was a nuisance, and looked back down at the printer. She didn’t know what to say for a moment. Lapis felt Peridot shut down a bit and tried to think of a way to make things better.

            “Peridot, are you hungry?” Lapis asked as she sat up to roll onto her stomach and look at Peridot from the foot of the bed.

            “Yeah why, you want to order something?” Peridot shoved her graph in her folder and joined Lapis on the bed, typing in ‘pizza places nearby’ into google. Lapis snatched the computer and gave it back when the web browser loaded, which now said, Great Wall Asian Takeout. Peridot nodded in agreement and Lapis fist pumped the air and they added items to their cart. Lapis offered to pay since it was her idea, but Peridot denied saying it was her treat for doing all the hard math on the lab.

            “Will this be our payment plan, I tutor you for food when we have study sessions?” Lapis joked.

            “I’m totally fine with that, that means I’ll get food every time too.” Peridot laughed.

            While they waited for the take out to get to them, in forty minutes to an hour, Lapis began inspecting Peridot’s room closer and Peridot was ready to defend her nerdiness at the first teasing. Although she was nervous of what Lapis thought, her stomach was all in knots as she scanned the room.

            “What’s this?” Lapis asked pointing to the large Camp Pining Hearts poster above her bed.

            “Lapis! You haven’t seen Camp Pining Hearts?” Peridot yelled exasperatedly.

            “Nope.” She popped the ‘p’ sound of her answer. “Never even heard of it.”

            “Prepare to be educated!” Peridot yelled excitedly as she grabbed her PS4 controller and clicked restart on the first season disc.

            They were well into the season when a knock sounded on the door and Peridot bounded off the bed to go grab the food, leaving Lapis alone to enjoy the show. Which she truly did, it was old and cliché, but something about it made her extremely invested and she was beginning to agree with Peridot about which characters were useless and which belonged in the camps, ‘hierarchy.’ When Peridot returned, she sat up and got out from under the covers and started eating her orange chicken and fried rice, sharing the rice with Peridot. They debated over the subtext of certain scenes and Peridot had to keep from spoiling later seasons as Lapis started predicting what might happen, begging Peridot to spill but Peridot kept saying “I guess you’ll have to watch!”

            Soon it was nearly 10:50 pm and Peridot asked if Lapis had to be home soon. Although Lapis didn’t want to leave, and didn’t have to, she felt like she should give Peridot some sleep so she agreed to a ride home. As the drive began Lapis asked if she could put on a song and Peridot agreed, offering her the phone, and Lapis put on Sunflower by Rex Orange County.

            “I think you’ll like this.” Lapis commented, letting the speakers fill the car and letting the wind blow through her hair again. She started dancing in her seat as the song picked up, watching as Peridot’s small fingers danced across the wheel as she drove. A small grin turned up on both their faces as they just let the music envelop them.

            As they approached Lapis’s house Peridot gave her a half sad half happy smile and a wave. She really enjoyed Lapis’s company, it was so comfortable and easy to spend time with her.

            “Home sweet home.” Lapis said halfheartedly with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Today was…a lot of fun Peridot. You actually are kinda cool.” Lapis joked as she opened her door to leave.

            “I am!” Peridot defended. “You’re still gonna tutor me right?” She asked nervously.

            “Heh, yeah I’ll tutor you dork. Only if I get food and Camp Pining Hearts in return.”

            “It’s a deal.” Peridot smiled genuinely. Lapis’s cheeks lit up bright red and she looked down at her feet in a swift motion before saying goodbye and speed walking to her door.

            Peridot drove home under the starry sky with her windows down, softly drumming her fingers along the wheel to the sound of Sunflower repeating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.theplancollection.com/house-plans/home-plan-29667
> 
> inspo for peridot's house^
> 
> make sure to leave a comment! even if its just 'wow cool' that motivates me to keep writing and brightens my day :-) and if you have any constructive criticism go ahead i always want to grow as a writer so its very appreciated! hope you're enjoying it!

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for such a long first chapter, had to get everything in about school. chapters might be this long, prob a lil shorter after this! for anyone who was also reading glow i'll probably resume that soon. had an epic year off of being homeless, car accidents, being disowned, dude i did it all! humor aside, i'm finally feeling like myself again and can't wait to write my favorite pairing a wonderful story and i hope you enjoy the ride! comments and thoughts appreciated! i wanted to convey subtle things to start, like peridots constant comparing herself to others in image or in thought of status, little things like that. hopefully i convey the messages i want to correctly! can't wait to have this journey with you all! feels so good to write again, i've missed it :)


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